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Postdoctoral Researcher in Computational Neuroscience
by Fleur Zeldenrust 26 Feb '25

26 Feb '25

*My lab is looking for a computational neuroscience postdoctoral researcher:* http://ru.nl/en/working-at/job-opportunities/postdoctoral-researcher-in-com… For the Vidi project ‘Top-down neuromodulation and bottom-up network computation,’ we seek a postdoc to study neuromodulators in efficient spike-coding networks. Using our lab’s data on dopamine, acetylcholine, and serotonin from the mouse barrel cortex, you’ll derive models connecting single cells, networks, and behavior. The aim of this project is to explain the effects of neuromodulation on task performance in biologically realistic spiking recurrent neural networks (SRNNs). You will use the efficient spike coding framework <https://journals.plos.org/ploscompbiol/article?id=10.1371/journal.pcbi.1003…>, in which a network is not trained by a learning paradigm but deduced using mathematically rigorous rules that enforce efficient coding <https://journals.plos.org/ploscompbiol/article?id=10.1371/journal.pcbi.1008…>(i.e. maximally informative spikes). You will study how the network’s structural properties such as neural heterogeneity influence decoding performance and efficiency. You will incorporate realistic network properties of the (barrel) cortex based on our lab’s measurements <https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12021-022-09576-5> and incorporate the cellular effects of dopamine, acetylcholine and serotonin <https://eur01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https://doi.org/10.1101…>we have measured <https://academic.oup.com/gigascience/article/7/12/giy147/5232232> over the past years into the network, to investigate their effects on representations, network activity measures such as dimensionality, and decoding performance. You will build on the single cell data, network models and analysis methods available in our group, and your results will be incorporated into our group’s further research to develop and validate efficient coding models of (somatosensory) perception. Therefore, we are looking for a team player who is willing to learn from the other group members and to share their knowledge with them. *Profile* - You hold a PhD in computational neuroscience, mathematics, physics, computer science, AI or a similar computational field. - You have experience working with coding models in computational neuroscience and can perform network simulations, analytical derivations and advanced data analysis. - You are a highly motivated, independent, critical and creative researcher who wants to bridge the gap between real data and abstract theoretical models. - You are a team player, ready to collaborate in a diverse, multidisciplinary research group. - You have an excellent command of spoken and written English. - You have coding experience (in Python and/or Matlab) You will be appointed at the Biophysics of Neural Computation group <https://www.ru.nl/en/departments/donders-centre-for-neuroscience/biophysics…> , Donders Center for Neuroscience <https://www.ru.nl/en/donders-centre-for-neuroscience>, Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour <https://www.ru.nl/en/donders-institute>. This vibrant and multidisciplinary institute studies the organisation and function of neural circuits across scales and techniques, from genes and proteins to behaviour and from in vitro and in vivo experiments to computational modelling. It is an open and international environment, where young scientists from different backgrounds share a fascination for the interaction between brain structure and function. There is a lively community <https://www.ru.nl/en/donders-institute/talent-development/postdoc-support> of postdoctoral researchers who are provided with specialised support. *We offer* - We will give you a temporary employment contract of 26 months. - Your salary within salary scale 10 <https://eur01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https://www.ru.nl/en/st…>depends on your previous education and number of years of (relevant) work experience. The amounts in the scale are based on a 38-hour working week. - You will receive an 8% holiday allowance and an 8,3% end-of-year bonus. - You will receive extra days off. With full-time employment, you can choose between 30 or 41 days <https://www.ru.nl/en/staff/services/employment-conditions/working-time/flex…> of annual leave instead of the statutory 20. Fleur Zeldenrust -- Fleur Zeldenrust Associate Professor Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour Donders Centre for Neuroscience Faculty of Science, Radboud University Heyendaalseweg 135, room HG 00.111 6525 AJ Nijmegen, the Netherlands tel +31 24 36 53195 fleurzeldenrust.nl *Due to my own family/work balance, you may receive emails from me outside of normal working hours. I do not expect a response from you outside of your own working pattern, nor do I expect an immediate response when you are working.*

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Deadline extended: Transatlantic Behavioural Neuroscience School, Argentina, Aug 11-22 2025
by Mateusz Kostecki 25 Feb '25

25 Feb '25

Hello! We are happy to announce that we have extended the deadline for application to Transatlantic Behavioral Neuroscience School till March 2nd! During our school you will learn how to deliver stimuli or modify the environment in which the animal is embedded with Arduino-based devices and Bonsai code; you will design and 3D-print cases and holders for your instruments. And then you will apply cutting-edge tools (like Deeplabcut or CEBRA) – to extract as much information as possible from your data. But that’s not everything. At TBNS you will listen to fascinating lectures and interact with speakers, who explored bold ideas and made their unique career paths. You will look at what behavior is through many lenses. Most importantly though, you will meet people with similar interests and goals. And you may become a part of our global Open Lab community, and help us to spread the knowledge further! More information and the application form can be found here - https://nenckiopenlab.org/tbns2025/. The deadline for application is Feb 25th, the fee is EUR 1500 but we have secured funding for fee waivers and travel grants if needed. With best wishes, TBNS Team -- --- Mateusz Kostecki PhD Student Knapska Laboratory Nencki Institute 02-093 Warsaw, Pasteura 3, Poland https://twitter.com/mtkostecki https://evolvingbehavior.blog/

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6th International Conference on Mathematics of Neuroscience and AI (Split, Croatia, 27-30 May 2025) - abstract submission extended to 16th March
by Ruairidh Battleday 25 Feb '25

25 Feb '25

We are extending abstract submissions for this year’s Conference on Mathematics of Neuroscience and AI to March 16th AOE: www.neuromonster.org In this high-profile conference we hear about new computational theories of the brain and mind, as well as data that challenges old theories. We then take findings and theory back into the creation of robust, generalizable, and scalable AI. We hear from leading researchers over four days, spanning biocomputation, neural theory, cognitive science, and machine learning & artificial intelligence (AI): Keynote Speakers Professor Wolfgang Maas (Graz), Professor Eve Marder (Brandeis), Professor Jay McClelland (Stanford), Professor Christine Constantinople (NYU), Dr Kim Stachenfeld (DeepMind), Professor Kanaka Rajan (Harvard), Dr Ida Momennejad (Microsoft Research), Professor Jacob Foerster (Oxford / Meta). Session Chairs Dr Valeria Fascianelli (Columbia; Biocomputation) Dr Francesca Mignacco (CUNY & Princeton; Biocomputation) Yasmine Ayman (Harvard; Neural theory) Dr James Whittington (Oxford & Stanford; Neural theory) Professor Bill Thompson (UC Berkeley; Cognitive science) Dr Maria Eckstein (DeepMind; Cognitive science) Mikey Lepori (Brown & DeepMind; Machine learning & AI) Professor Ilia Sucholutsky (NYU; Machine learning & AI) Invited Speakers Professor Alex Cayco-Gajic (ENS) Dr Jenelle Feather (Flatiron Institute) Dr Joao Barbosa (Institute for Neuromodulation) Tejas Ramdas (Harvard) Professor Vijay Namdoodiri (UCSF) Professor Annegret Falkner (Princeton) Dr Chen Sun (Mila) Dr Chris Hillar (New Theory AI) Professor Bonan Zhao (Edinburgh) Professor Lisa-Marie Vortmann (Groningen) Dr Felix Sosa (Harvard) Dr Lio Wong (MIT) Location The conference will be held at Croatia’s National Opera Theatre in Split, 10 minutes walk from the ancient harbour. Split is served by two nearby international airports (Split and Dubrovnik) with low-price carriers as well as several ferry lines from the wider Mediterranean. Submissions The submission format is an abstract of 250 words, and we invite submissions for each session via the following Google form: https://forms.gle/a9JDH5B4Z5otS69Y7 These will be accepted for poster, with the best 6 papers in each session category given an additional spotlight talk. Submission deadline is 16th March AOE. We have a very open acceptance policy, and are happy to hear about relevant work that has been submitted to other events. Early bird tickets A limited number of early-bird registrations have been posted on our website! Normal registration will follow after the submission deadline. Come and join the fun! Dr Ruairidh McLennan Battleday (Harvard & MIT) Dr James Whittington (Oxford & Stanford) Dr Ivana Kaljc (DeepMind) Professor Dan V. Nicolau Jr (Kings College London) The Organizing Committee. -- Dr Ruairidh McLennan Battleday BMBCh (Oxon) PhD President Thinking About Thinking (www.thinkingaboutthinking.org) Postdoctoral Research Fellow Center for Brain Science, Harvard University Center for Brains, Minds, and Machines, MIT

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Qualia Structure - Integrated Information Theory Summer School 2025
by Larissa Albantakis 24 Feb '25

24 Feb '25

*Deadline of application: Mar 14, 2025 * The QStr (Qualia Structure) - IIT (Integrated Information Theory) Summer School offers an exciting opportunity for students, post-doctoral fellows and junior faculty scholars from around the world to explore the intersection of qualitative aspects of consciousness (or qualia) and scientific objectivity. This event is scheduled to take place in Venice and Bertinoro, Italy from October 5 to 17, 2025. Here is the link to the overview homepage, from which one can apply for it. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1hFmabi5KJQRfocvwhXAehIkwFxrCp_Touxp9-Sn… <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://docs.google.com/document/d/1hFmabi5KJQR…> Participating faculty Larissa Albantakis Melanie Boly Matteo Grasso Yuko Ishihara Christof Koch William Marshall Lucia Melloni Hedda Hassel Mørch Masafumi Oizumi Steve Philliips Hayato Saigo Giulio Tononi Naotsugu Tsuchiya Makiko Yamada

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World wide VVTNS series (fifth season): Wednesday, February 26, 2025, at 11:00 am EST| Songting Li, Shanghai Jiao Tong University
by David Hansel 23 Feb '25

23 Feb '25

[image: VVTNS.png] https://www.wwtns.online <https://streaklinks.com/A9c7PbbpKY7PxB6PaAJWGD3-/https%3A%2F%2Fwww.wwtns.on…> - on twitter: wwtns@TheoreticalWide You are cordially invited to the lecture given by Songting Li Shanghai Jiao Tong University Timescale localization and signal propagation in the large-scale cortical network The lecture will be held on zoom on Wednesday, February 26, 2025, at *11:00 am EST * To receive the link: https://www.wwtns.online/register-page *Abstract: * In the brain, while early sensory areas encode and process external inputs rapidly, higher-association areas are endowed with slow dynamics to benefit information accumulation over time. This property raises the question of why diverse timescales are well localized rather than being mixed up across the cortex, despite high connection density and an abundance of feedback loops that support reliable signal propagation. In this talk, we will address this question by analyzing a large-scale network model of the primate cortex, and we identify a novel dynamical regime termed "interference-free propagation". In this regime, the mean components of the synaptic currents to each downstream area are imbalanced to ensure signals to propagate reliably, while the temporally fluctuating components of the synaptic inputs governed by upstream areas' timescales are largely canceled out, leading to the localization of its own timescale in each downstream area. Our result provides new insights into the operational regime of the cortex, leading to the coexistence of hierarchical timescale localization and reliable signal propagation. *About VVTNS : Launched as the World Wide Theoretical Neuroscience Seminar (WWTNS) in November 2020 and renamed in homage to Carl van Vreeswijk in Memoriam (April 20, 2022), Speakers have the occasion to talk about theoretical aspects of their work which cannot be discussed in a setting where the majority of the audience consists of experimentalists. The seminars, **held on Wednesdays at 11 am ET,** are 45-50 min long followed by a discussion. The talks are recorded with authorization of the speaker and are available to everybody on our YouTube channel.*

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Two postdoctoral research positions in Active Inference at the University of Cape Town
by Jonathan Shock 23 Feb '25

23 Feb '25

Postdoctoral Positions in Active InferenceUniversity of Cape Town, South Africa The Shocklab research group in conjunction with the Neuropsychology research group at the University of Cape Town (UCT) is seeking two postdoctoral researchers to join our dynamic team working on Active Inference in relation to affective consciousness. This position offers an exciting opportunity to work at the intersection of computational, cognitive and affective neuroscience, and artificial intelligence, in collaboration with leading researchers in the field including Dr Ryan Smith at the Laureate Institute and lr Charel Van Hoof MBA at TU Delft. About the Position - Duration: One year with possibility of one- or two-year extension - Start Date: Immediate availability - Salary: R540,000 per year, tax free (equivalent to around R740,000 per annum, taxed) - Location: University of Cape Town, South Africa Research Environment Our research group combines expertise in consciousness studies, Active Inference, and Reinforcement Learning, with leads: - Associate Professor Jonathan Shock, Director of the UCT AI Initiative, head of Shocklab and Associate Professor in the Department of Mathematics and Applied Mathematics. - Professor Mark Solms, Professor in Neuropsychology, author of "The Hidden Spring" and collaborator with Karl Friston on consciousness and Active Inference. The group currently includes two Masters students, one PhD student and one postdoc, all working on Active Inference in foraging environments in the presence of competing needs. The Shocklab group also has a large number of graduate students working on Reinforcement Learning. Graduate student supervision would be an important part of the postdoctoral role. The work is jointly located in the UCT Neuroscience Institute and the Department of Mathematics and Applied Mathematics. Project Description The research focuses on studying single and multi-agent Active Inference agents in dynamic environments in which agents must learn to satisfy competing ‘survival’ needs. This programme has a sophisticated inference/sophisticated learning/tree-search focus. The overarching aim is to gain insights into affective consciousness, attention, and need prioritization. This work is supported by donor funding from Conscium, UK. Computing Resources - Access to UCT High Performance Computing cluster - Dedicated Shocklab cluster featuring two RTX 4090 GPUs Required Qualifications - PhD, preferably obtained within the last five years - Strong research background in Active Inference - Programming expertise, particularly in JAX (preferred) Benefits - Competitive salary (R540,000 tax free per year) - Funding for at least one international conference per year, and potential extended research visit at the Laureate Institiute - Opportunity to work in one of the world's most beautiful cities About UCT and Cape Town The University of Cape Town is Africa's leading university, situated at the foot of Table Mountain. The institution has a rich research history and is currently accelerating its research initiatives in AI. Cape Town offers an exceptional quality of life with incredible natural beauty and a flourishing scientific environment. A living costs calculator can be found here: https://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/in/Cape-Town Application Process Please submit the following materials: - Cover letter and CV - Research history - Future research plans on Active Inference - Three letters of reference Application Deadline: March 15th, 2025 Interviews: late March/early April 2025 Contact: jonathan.shock(a)uct.ac.za with Subject: "ActInf postdoc"

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Postdoctoral Research Fellow: EEG Brain-computer Interface, University of Birmingham
by Howard Bowman 22 Feb '25

22 Feb '25

Postdoctoral Research Fellow: EEG Brain-computer Interface, a Brainwave-based Visual Acuity Test Centre for Human Brain Health, School of Psychology and School of Computer Science, University of Birmingham Closes: 6th March 2025 JOB-DESCRIPTION: The Fringe-P3 method (Bowman et al, 2013; Alsufyani et al, 2019) developed out of a line of theoretical work focussed on temporal attention and perception on the fringe of awareness (Bowman & Wyble, 2007; Craston et al, 2009; Avilés et al, 2020). The method provides a means to present a large number of visual stimuli very rapidly to a participant's brain and then determine with EEG, which of those stimuli the participant finds salient. The method has been proposed as a deception detector, specifically, a (countermeasures-resistant) concealed-knowledge test (Bowman et al, 2013, 2014; Alsufyani et al, 2019; Harris et al, 2021; see https://sms.cam.ac.uk/media/2077487/) Previous projects with the company Visionmetric (https://visionmetric.com/) used the Fringe-P3 method to develop a system for extracting the memory of a face. This is done by generating a facial morph that is a weighted average of the faces presented in rapid serial visual presentation, with weight determined by the strength of the P3 that face generated. The Research Fellow being advertised will be employed on a recently awarded MRC Impact Acceleration account at the University of Birmingham, with two companies: Visionmetric and Advanced Ophthalmic Systems (https://aos-hub.com/) This will take the Fringe-P3 method and develop it as an objective visual-acuity test, called the Acuity-P3. Many groups, such as young children, those with learning difficulties and dementia patients find it hard to follow the instructions required to complete a standard visual-acuity test (such as a Snellen chart). As a result, clinical decisions, such as whether to perform cataract surgery, often have to be made without a reliable assessment of vision. We will develop a system by which a brain response (the P3) can be used as an objective measure that a letter has been read. This will provide an objective visual-acuity test, not dependent upon a subjective response. We will also improve the efficiency with which P3s are detected with machine learning and will explore alternative detection modalities, such as pupil dilation. At the University of Birmingham, the work will be undertaken within the School of Psychology and Centre for Human Brain Health, with involvement from the School of Computer Science (where the PI, Bowman, also has an appointment). PERSON SPECIFICATION: Batchelors (and potentially also Masters) degree, as well as a PhD or equivalent qualification in Computer Science, STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths), Psychology, Neuroscience, or related subjects. Candidates with equivalent industrial experience would also be within scope. Strong programming skills, with experience of or the capacity to learn how to program in Python and C++. Experience of neuroimaging, including data collection, or the capacity to learn such methods. Fluency or capacity to become fluent in relevant models, techniques and methods, e.g. Fieldtrip, Statistical Parametric Mapping, EEG-lab, and ability to contribute to developing new methods. Informal enquiries can be made to Professor Howard Bowman and H.Bowman(a)bham.ac.uk. Full application details can be found here: https://edzz.fa.em3.oraclecloud.com/hcmUI/CandidateExperience/en/sites/CX_6… Alsufyani, A., Hajilou, O., Zoumpoulaki, A., Filetti, M., Alsufyani, H., Solomon, C. J., ... & Bowman, H. (2019). Breakthrough percepts of famous faces. Psychophysiology, 56(1). Avilés, A., Bowman, H., & Wyble, B. (2020). On the limits of evidence accumulation of the preconscious percept. Cognition, 195, 104080. Bowman, H., Filetti, M., Janssen, D., Su, L., Alsufyani, A., & Wyble, B. (2013). Subliminal salience search illustrated: EEG identity and deception detection on the fringe of awareness. PLoS One, 8(1). Bowman, H., Filetti, M., Alsufyani, A., Janssen, D., & Su, L. (2014). Countering countermeasures: Detecting identity lies by detecting conscious breakthrough. PloS one, 9(3), e90595. Bowman, H., & Wyble, B. (2007). The simultaneous type, serial token model of temporal attention and working memory. Psychological review, 114(1), 38. Craston, P., Wyble, B., Chennu, S. & Bowman, H. "The attentional blink reveals serial working memory encoding: Evidence from virtual & human event-related potentials." Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 21(3):550-566, March 2009. Harris, K., Miller, C., Jose, B., Beech, A., Woodhams, J., & Bowman, H. (2021). Breakthrough percepts of online identity: Detecting recognition of email addresses on the fringe of awareness. European Journal of Neuroscience, 53(3), 895-901. -------------------------------------------- Howard Bowman (PhD) Professor of Cognitive Neuroscience in Psychology and Computer Science at the University of Birmingham Honorary Professor of Imaging Neuroscience at Functional Imaging Lab, University College London email: H.Bowman(a)bham.ac.uk<mailto:H.Bowman@bham.ac.uk> WWW: https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/staff/profiles/psychology/bowman-howard ?Howard Bowman - ?Google Scholar<https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=pcKQix4AAAAJ&hl=en> School of Psychology, University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham B15 2TT, UK Research Groups: Neuroimaging Methods and AI, Centre for Human Brain Health, University of Birmingham Perception, Language and Action, Computer Science, University of Birmingham PLORAS (Predicting Language Outcomes and Recovery After Stroke), Functional Imaging Lab, University College London

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Fwd: [seminar.wwtns] Summer School NeuroBridges2025 | In partnership with VVTNS series
by David Hansel 20 Feb '25

20 Feb '25

* NeuroBridges 2025* *A Mediterranean, Middle Eastern Summer School in Neuroscience* *Deadline to apply: April 15, 2025* NeuroBridges 2025 is a summer school which will take place between September 7 and September 18, 2025 in Le Centre de Conferences Internationales de Cluny, France (CCIC) <https://streaklinks.com/B3KEKFd397UPDx5n8gyfD1BJ/https%3A%2F%2Fcollegecluny…> . The school will provide an overview of theoretical and experimental frameworks used to study a variety of decision making processes. It will cover different model systems from rodents to humans and a plethora of decision making mechanisms. Another objective of NeuroBridges is to bring together Mediterranean and Middle Eastern scientists, in order to promote scientific cooperation between young researchers from these countries. The organizers of NeuroBridges are convinced that such scientific collaborations can lead to personal relations, which eventually may alleviate the political distress in the Middle East. The school is intended for graduate students and postdocs, primarily, but not only, from the Middle East and the Mediterranean region, either working in their home countries or abroad. Applicants should have some background in related fields in neuroscience or cognitive psychology. All costs of registration and accommodation will be covered by the organizers. A limited number of travel grants will also be available. *Faculty:* - Alaa Ahmed (U. Colorado) <https://www.colorado.edu/mechanical/alaa-ahmed> - Rava Azeredo da Silveira (IOB) <https://www.silveira-lab.com/rava-azeredo-da-silveira> - Ahmed El Hady (Max Planck Institute) <https://www.ab.mpg.de/person/111828> - David Hansel (CNRS) <https://incc-paris.fr/people/david-hansel/> - Mehdi Khamassi (CNRS) <https://pages.isir.upmc.fr/mkhamassi/> - Carole Levenes (CNRS) <https://incc-paris.fr/people/carole-levenes/> - Yonatan Loewenstein (Hebrew U.) <https://elsc.huji.ac.il/people-directory/faculty-members/yonatan-loewenstei…> - Zach Mainen (Champalimaud), TBC <https://mainenlab.org/> - Israel Nelken (Hebrew U.) <https://elsc.huji.ac.il/people-directory/faculty-members/israel-nelken/> - Drazen Prelec (MIT) <https://mitsloan.mit.edu/faculty/directory/drazen-prelec> - Reza Shadmehr (John Hopkins U.) <https://www.shadmehrlab.org/> NeuroBridges is co-organized by Ahmed El Hady (Max Planck Institute), David Hansel (CNRS, Paris), Yonatan Loewenstein (Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel), Carole Levenes (CNRS, Paris), Shir Shapira (Hebrew University of Jerusalem). NeuroBridges 2025 is supported by the Simons Foundation, the Cyril Taylor Charitable FoundationELSC, and is in partnership with VVTNS ( https://www.wwtns.online/) For more information and application, visit our website: https://neurobridges.net/

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Registration open for the NSF-Simons NITMB MathBio Convergence Conference 11-14 August 2025 Chicago IL
by William L. Kath 19 Feb '25

19 Feb '25

*The NSF-Simons NITMB MathBio Convergence Conference 11-14 August 2025 Chicago, IL Registration, Abstract Submission and Travel Award Applications now open!* More details at https://www.nitmb.org/nitmb-mathbio-convergence-conference We are calling for talks and posters discussing challenging problems in biology that are inspiring new mathematics, statistics, theory and computation, and mathematics that is generating important new insights into biology. If you are a mathematician working on biology or a biologist using mathematics, or just someone who would like to learn more about research at the interface between mathematics and biology, we encourage you to attend. * *Registration:* The number of attendees at the conference is finite. We are asking participants to pay a small fee ($100) to hold their place. * *Abstracts:* Register before 15 April if you would like to submit an abstract. * *Travel Awards:* We are proud to offer travel award to students and early career researchers. A brief application is required for consideration - deadline April 15. * Travel awards fund up to $650 for domestic travel and $800 for intercontinental travel, plus reimbursement for local hotel costs and for meals not provided by the conference (gsa.gov rates apply). Award recipients must lodge at The Drake Hotel (140 East Walton Place Chicago, IL 60611) to receive reimbursement. *Registration/submission steps:* 1. Register at https://www.nitmb.org/nitmb-mathbio-convergence-conference 2. Upon entering your information, you will be directed to a payment site. 3. After confirmation of payment (please note your confirmation number), you will be sent links with which to submit an abstract and/or apply for a travel award. If you have questions, please email nitmb(a)nitmb.org I_mportant Dates:_ Abstract Submission April 15, 2025 Travel Award Application April 15, 2025 Early Registration (to be considered for a presentation) ($100) February 15 - April 15, 2025 Notification of selection for an Oral Talk or a Poster Late May Regular Registration (no presentation) ($100) February 15 - July 14, 2025 Late Registration ($200) July 15 - August 4, 2025 Hotel Registration (at the Drake) Mid-April - July 15, 2025 *Confirmed plenary speakers:* *Alexander Auhlela, The European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL)* Dr. Aulehla uses dynamical systems to study how a vertebrate embryo forms the unique number of body segments that make up the vertebrae. *Carina Curto, Brown University* Dr. Curto combines mathematical tools from algebra, geometry, topology and dynamical systems to elucidate complex patterns of activity in networks of neurons. *Lorin Crawford, Microsoft Research and Brown University* Dr. Crawford uses machine learning and statistical tools to study the genotype-to-phenotype map for complex traits and diseases. *Michael Hawrylycz, The Allen Institute* Dr. Hawrylycz studies the cellular constitution and organization of the brain using single-cell transcriptomics and cutting-edge computational and statistical tools. *Anna-Liisa Laine, University of Helsinki* Dr. Laine studies complex problems in ecology across a spectrum of length and time scales. *Reidun Twarock, University of York* Dr. Twarock uses mathematics to study the symmetries of animal viruses and how they self-assemble inside host cells.

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First Meeting of the Society for Philosophy and Neuroscience
by James Bower 19 Feb '25

19 Feb '25

I thought some on this list might be interested in knowing about the first annual meeting for the newly formed Society for Philosophy and Neuroscience, to be held May 1-3, 2025 at Washington University in St. Lewis, Missouri, USA. https://www.philandneuro.com/?utm_campaign=e5e3edd6-f129-4005-9ca3-804ea034… HOME | SPAN philandneuro.com Just FYI, I will be part of a symposium considering: "What can we learn about current neuroscience practice from its history." I was considering giving a talk on what you can and can’t learn about the brain using AI, but decided instead to discuss: Correlation as a substitute for causality: how FMRI has reinforced correlation-based story telling in neuroscience and in the process the cerebellum has replaced 42 as the answer to everything. According to Goggle’s AI overview, the function of the cerebellum includes motor coordination, balance and posture, motor learning, attention, memory and emotional regulation. The AI bott missed: sleep, stress, thirst, hyperactivity, psychosis, schizophrenia, autism, epilepsy, urinary tract function, mutism, language acquisition, and much more. In 1996, I published an FMRI study in Science that is generally regarded as providing the first evidence that the 150 year assumption that the cerebellum was only a motor control device was incorrect. In fact, that study was designed to test whether the cerebellum was involved in motor control at all, based on predictions made by realistic computational models built from experimental evidence (i.e. non-Ptolemaic models). So what has happened since? This talk will consider how fMRI, employed as the ultimate correlation seeking technique, has distorted not only our understanding of the overall function of the cerebellum, but has also, in effect, undermined and distorted basic neuroscientific study of this remarkable structure. As such, epistemologically, the cerebellum may represent the ultimate example of what is wrong with neuroscience as well as how it can be fixed. Best to all in troubling times, Jim Dr. James M. Bower Ph.D. 541-499-7502 Simulating a 17th century landed gentry scientist. Also: Affiliate Professor of Biology Southern Oregon University Visiting Professor of Computational Neuroscience Biocomputation Research Group School of Physics, Engineering and Computer Science University of Hertfordshire, UK Linked in <https://www.linkedin.com/in/james-m-bower-130163/> Wikipedia <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_M._Bower>

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